Review of Wordz From Tha Underground

ABORT Magazine was on hand on July 13 to cover my recent show at the Media Club, Wordz From Tha Underground.

Here is the review:

Live Review - Wordz from Tha Underground,
Friday July 13th - The Media Club
Vancouver, BC

SPM Music presented the fifth installment of WFTU’s profile of local talent featuring host XYL (pronounced Exile), Son Real, DJ Vinnie the Squid, the Now or Never breakdance Crew, and Erthtonez.

Kicking off the evening and featuring beats by EV, XYL’s style is an even mix of party rap and philosophy, first hyping the crowd up with drinking’ rhymes and then hitting us with “the code of the samurai”. He’s all about Asia in fact, says he’s planning on going there soon with a mix of rap and Asian pop, and not coming back until he’s a major superstar over there, – He can even rap in Korean! The skinny white girl dancers on either side of him showed how serious he is about this pop star shit (all right, it was entertaining…), and the Japanese hotties in the front row sure loved it.

Son Real was walking around handing out CD’s for free and he gave me one without even knowing I’m Aborted. Kid must have money and CD’s to burn. Anyway, he started out strong, he really did, good voice and all, but it’s a bit hard to believe his whole street hustling shtick (a bit J-Roc) - and then when his buddy came out with the guitar…well, it was bold, and worked for a minute. But listen Son – a hook is just that, a hook, not a five minute chant (Son Real got you so hot or whatever…), and just because your five loogan buddies in the front row are singin’ along doesn’t mean you’re moving the crowd.

Which brings us to….Erthtonez All fresh for the video shoot like they just walked outta Metrotown. Dudes were pretty cool smoking weed and freestyling on the steps, so I was definitely interested in their live styles. Thunderous beats provided by Vinnie the Squid had me anticipating greatness, but when Mishap started rapping I was underwhelmed…him and Explicit have obviously been working on their craft together for some time, and have good interplay, beats and song concepts. It’s just that, well, it reminds me of hippie drum circles where that guy has to play faster and louder than anyone and sounds like some kinda toy machine gun…in musical terms it’s called relentless quarter notes without syncopation –aka: funkless.

Non Phixion can pull it off ‘cause they’re from NYC and their voices naturally swing…really it’s not how fast you say it, listen to some Sean Price for chrissakes.

The highlight of the evening was definitely the Now or Never Crew, who stood anonymously unassuming on the sidelines until the breakbeats dropped and then exhibited the dopest display of b-boying I’ve seen in years! Headslides, handwalks, windmills and insane freezes, fuck man I was pretty drunk by this point and I think I actually drooled in stupefaction. Check out the movies on their site. They teach classes too!

We took off after Erthtonez so I don’t know if the freestyle battle happened or what, we were too intent on pizza and Fireball. Granville on a Friday night is one big Vice Mag.

Fortunately, I arrived home to East Van to beer and barbecued meat ‘till the birds woke up…

By Dave” Corvid” McCallum

Wordz From Tha Underground comes to the Lamplighter next month on Aug 17th featuring Violative Cause, Sketch Bros, and (shameless plug) Abort Magazines’ own Corvid and his crew 49th Peril, hosted by XYL and DJ Antihero.
Support Vancouver Underground music!!! Much respect to XYL for organizing, big up to all the performers for doing your thing and keeping Hip Hop alive.

Back to Blogging

Been really busy with other things and have begun to wonder if it is worth blogging. Anyways, here are some updates:

Performing at Anime Evolution:
I will be performing at a huge Anime convention at SFU in Vancouver. Check the Anime Evolution website for more details about the event.

Featured on the cover of Chinese magazine:
I have been featured on the cover of a Chinese lifestyle and entertainment magazine produced by Pharos Media. To check out my interview inside, CLICK HERE

Recording new Chinese single:
I have finished writing my first single for China. The song will feature the vocal talents of D'arcy Zi Han who will be singing in Mandarin.

First Japanese single complete:
My first Japanese single, 'Dreams', is now complete. The song features production by ZISK from Kumamoto Japan and also Japanese vocals by Tiffa Lei. You can listen to the track on my Myspace profile.

Addicted to Asian Pop Music

It's official I am now completely addicted to Asian pop music. I can't stop listening to it all day. I find it really inspiring in regards to my own compositions and also it really gives me an idea what people in Asia love in terms of music style. I'm going to be working with more Asian pop singers now, not simply because it's a big thing is Asia but because I absolutely love this music and I want to absorb some of its flavor into my own recordings.

In my opinion, the two greatest artists in Asian pop are Koda Kumi from Japan and BoA from Korea. One of my goals is to work with both of them.

Next time on Planet XYL, my new Japanese collaboration!

The End of Drinking...

Goodbye sweet beer... I must leave your cool, refreshing and intoxicating goodness behind for now. But I know we will meet again someday in a dusky pub or an upbeat Korean nightclub. I will once again imbibe your inebriating toxicity in the future but for now we must part ways.

Hangovers, blacking out, wasting money, acting stupid, I won't really miss those things. Big laughs, one-shotting pints, getting wasted with my friends, these things I will miss. But to get to my goal I have to give this vice up for now. Once I hit Asia then it's all the beer, Soju and Sake I can drink! Nonde!

Wordz From Tha Underground in Review

It went down on Saturday June 16th at the Lamplighter and what a show it was. And I'm not just saying that because it was my show. No, seriously. Anyways, here's a recap of the night for those who couldn't make it:

XYL
I was the host of the evening as well as the first performer. This was my first time performing with the XYL dancers, Juile and Leanne. They dressed really hot in some dope black outfits and completely killed it. Their choreography is excellent and it feels amazing to have dancers who have actually taken the time to carefully choreograph dances for my songs! I feel that overall, this was my best performance yet. My crowd came out in full force, once again being 99% Asian students. They crowded the front of the stage and went nuts it was awesome!

Barrons S
This girl put on a hell of a show! With support from a guitar player and a local rapper from the Sketch Bros., Charz, she had the crowd totally into her set. Her voice is very skilled and she has some great songs. Definitely a talent to watch out for.

Euneverse
Stepping in for Violative Cause, who were unable to make it, was the always cheerful North Vancouver rapper Euneverse. He hit the stage next with his unique style that combines classical music with hip-hop. He says his music sounds like "Beetoven and Bach having beers with Biggie and Atmosphere". Cool. The always entertaining MC laid down a set of tunes from his CD 'Infinite Music' and at one point, had a random hot chick from the audience grinding with him on stage! Can't say anything bad about that!

A-Slam
Damn! A-Slam crushed! One of the members, E.V., is my co-producer and studio engineer for all of my recordings so I'd already heard his material and enjoyed it. However, these guys live is a whole different thing. They had a singer, E.V. rapping and also a really awesome drummer playing a unique East Indian instrument which I believe is called a 'Dhol'. Their energy level was sky-high and they impressed everyone with their unique fusion of sounds.

Keep 6ix
What can I say? Keep 6ix rules live each and every time. This is the third time I've booked them for a Wordz From Tha Underground show and their skill and energy live is unsurpassed. From the more emotional tracks like 'Nowhere 2 Hide'(my favorite) to more fun songs about getting hammered and high, these guys(and gal) rocked the set and then some. At this point the beers were flying about and we were getting completely inebriated. Dope.

The next Wordz From Tha Underground is a big one! It's the Erthtonez video shoot! More details to follow...

Jobless

I just got laid off my 'regular' job of Vitamin Sales Clerk which is sweet and also sucks. The sweet part is I now have every opportunity to work on my career all day long which is what I'm doing, putting in 12-14 hours a day.

The part that sucks is that I'm broke and Employment Insurance will take 5 friggin' weeks to kick in. Damn it! I'll have to start selling cocaine I suppose. Well, that and ringtones. I have some available for purchase, CLICK HERE.

You can grab a couple of wallpapers for free too.

In other news, I'm going to start blogging more and quit being so damn formal with my posts. This is supposed to be about the day-to-day struggle of a now broke musician not just adspace. I also read a book about blogging for business and I am now an expert. I've basically become the equivalent of a ninja blogger with throwing stars.

Oh, and I quit drinking. But that's another blog post.

The Make Way EP is Released

After much toil and handship my brand new EP 'Make Way' is unleashed upon the world! I have created a special webpage where you can download the CD plus change the language options. The page is translated into Japanese, Korean and Chinese. Check it out!

This is a really innovative website in that it is basically an online CD. You can access all sorts of cool options such as 'Join the XYL Newsletter', 'Tell a friend' and 'Send XYL a Message'. You can also access all my social networking site profiles. It's a completely integrated all-in-one site!

So go ahead, download my music and share it with all your friends. It's free and totally legal to share with anyone! Thanks for your support =D

A Canada-Japan Collaboration

I am currently working with Japanese producer Ota Kent on one of his tracks. The song, tentitavely titled 'Dreams', is an excellent piece of work and feautures professional quality production. He found me on the Japanese social networking site Mixi and really liked my rap voice. He asked me to rap on his track and I of course agreed seeing that the music was top-notch.

I have recruited vocalist Tiffany Lei to sing the chorus in Japanese. Tiffany is an amazing vocalist and cites Japanese pop sensation Koda Kumi as one of her influences, among others. She is interesting in that she is half caucausian and half Chinese but prefers to sing in the Japanese language. Anyways, I'm excited to be working with both her and Ota.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

More Work! Cyworld...

More and more work keeps being required as I get set to release my new EP 'Make Way' on June 1st. Now I am getting into the whole Social Networking Site thing, adding friends and introducing people to my music.

Right now, I am having a lot of positive feedback on Cyworld. This is originally a Korean site that ended up creating pages in the US, China, Japan and Taiwan. The concept in sort of similar to Myspace with a few cool differences. The core of Cyworld is the 'Minihome' a pop-up window that contains a room you get to customize with all sorts of different furniture, animals and characters. I find that people on Cyworld are way more receptive to being approached to check out new music than Myspace. This, in my opinion, is because Cyworld is not oversaturated with advertising like Myspace is. People are friendlier and there is way more of a community spirit.

I also updated the look of my Myspace page so be sure to have a look. Until next time...

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Working Like Crazy

There is never enough time! I have had the past 3 days off of my 'real' job and have been working full-tilt on my music career. Studying marketing and promotion, working on my Myspace page, organizing my Street Team, recording new songs and the list goes on to infinity. It gets stressful but I love it, as each day I make a little bit of progress towards my ultimate goal and that feels great.

The two new tracks I've recorded were the last ones for my upcoming 'Make Way' EP. I am very excited about them, you'll hear them on June 1st when Make Way becomes available as a free download. For now, it's more work... LOTS more work. If I don't go completely insane I might just make it.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Freestyling

I think freestyling is an integral part of hip hop and all MCs should make an effort to build their improvisational skills. Not only is it extremely fun to have a freestyle sessions with buddies but it also helps develop overall lyrical ability. The more you practice freestyling, the more ideas you get for writing song lyrics so I really believe that you can become a better lyricist through freestyling.

Battling is another element where freestyle ryhmes come to the forefront. Two MCs stand toe-to-toe and do their best to insult their opponent and win the crowd. There is much more than just good punchlines to winning a battle however. An MCs ability to flow and to make relevant rhymes is integral. And of course, the crowd plays a big role usually acting as the judge.

I personally don't battle but I love freestyling. And I love watching battles, it's hella entertaining. The next Wordz From Tha Underground I put on will have a rap battle in between sets to shake things up a bit. When the contestants are announced, I'll post it here. Keep up them freestyling skills, they're an essential part of hip hop.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Anything is Possible

The year was 1974, the place Zaire and the event was one the likes of which the boxing world had never seen before. Former heavyweight champion Muhammed Ali was aiming to regain the crown and once again be 'the greatest'. The man standing in his way was heavy-handed monster George Foreman, one of the most skilled and powerful boxers in history. The odds were against Ali, seeing as Foreman destroyed both Joe Frazier and Ken Norton with relaive ease, men who had defeated Ali in the past. But real champions don't play by the odds and they certainly don't let the past influence the here and now.

Faced with a daunting task before him, Ali recruited the support of the best people he could have in his corner: the African people. All of them. With his sheer presence and charisma, he made the Africans feel like he was their man, like he represented their whole nation. When the day of the fight came, Ali was the hero and Foreman was the villain. With the whole crowd chanting, "Ali bomaye!" (Ali, kill him!), Muhammed Ali changed the face of the boxing world forever and become the second champion ever since Floyd Patterson, to reclaim the heavyweight title after losing it.

Anything is possible. Visualize, strategize and take action.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

The Watered-down Hip Hop Scene

Everybody with a computer and a mic wants to make rap music and that sucks. Thousands of rap fans who think they can make good rap music are recording half-assed beats and recording their raps without any respect for coherency, flow or writing clever and relevant lyrics. In a sense, it's hurting the industry.

Myspace is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Now anyone can make a music account and start posting their sub-par material not only in hip hop but in all genres. People get friend requests from so-called 'artists' all the time and since most of it sucks, they start to ignore friend requests from bands even though there are some great ones out there.

My plea to anyone considering putting themselves out there in any genre of music is this: listen to those considered to be the best in whatever style you perform. Put your own music side by side with it in terms of composition and production and ask yourself if it's even close. Hell, ask other people the same question because so many acts think they're awesome when really most people think they're not. Don't clutter up the already overcrowded music world with garbage because it hurts all the artists who have dedicated their lives to crafting top-notch music only to have it ignored by someone because it's "just another rapper".

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Entering China

Today me and my good friend Li Jing(pictured above) worked on setting up an account on a Chinese social networking site called SOHU. We set up a blog and photo album for me it is so cool! We are going to continue to build more profiles for me on other popular Chinese sites and then work to draw traffic to them so I can get some fans in China.

In addition, I am going to start recruiting street team members in major Chinese cities such as Beijing and Shanghai so I can get the word out about my upcoming CD release.

I'm going to be repeating these endevours in Japan and Korea as well so I will have a decent number of Asian students helping me out. I love all of my Asian friends they are always so supportive and kind to me. Best of all, they really make noise at my concerts! This is the beginning of my foray into Asian territory. More to come soon...

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

XYL Live on April 21

This Saturday, April 21st is the next XYL performance. I will have a professional photographer on hand as well as a camera to film the madness. Since I am also promoting the event, I have booked some really top-notch acts from the Vancouver rap scene: Drunken Arseholes, Triforce Omega, and Quoted Motives.

I am expecting a large turnout as this is the third installment of Wordz From Tha Underground and our first weekend date which is awesome. The last event nearly sold out the Media Club on a Thursday and in between shows, I've been able to build a lot more fans who will be coming out to this one.

I am on the lookout for Street Team members to help spread the word about my upcoming CD release. I've already gotten a number of responses and I always need more members. Benefits include free merchandise, CDs and free admission to all my shows. Also, every once in a while I'll reward the members by taking them out and getting them hammered. Sound good? Email me if you're interested.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Quadruple Overtime!

I am currently at work hungover and still a little drunk form yesterday but hey, the Canucks game went into quadruple freakin' overtime so really my current situation doesn't surprise me. Does this post have a point? I hope it turns out that way...

The point is perseverence. Those two hockey teams showed incredible fortitude and conviction to give it their all for four extra periods. This is playoff hockey, no one is going to take a breather or play with anything less than one hundred percent no matter how many overtimes it goes into.

Life can be the same way. Like how I turned hockey into a clever metaphor for human existence? Ok maybe the point is obvious but I think everyone could stand to be a little but more agressive with their life's goals. Too many people talk and either don't take action, or take action in a half-assed way. Screw that. I'd rather give it everything I've got, day in and day out. Each day is a new step towards our goals, whatever they may be. Anyone on this planet can do anything they want with enough conviction and determination.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Top 7 Hip Hop Songs

I was recently on Bob Baker's Blog and he asked people to list 7 songs they like. Since I am a rapper, I'm bringing this list from a hip hop perspective and instead of just 7 songs I like, I'm listing my top 7 favorite songs of all time from a hip hop act. This is in no particular order. Here goes:

1. Run DMC - "It's Tricky"
2. Beastie Boys - "Paul Revere"
3. The Roots - "Don't Say Nuthin'"
4. Epik High - "Fly"
5. De La Soul - "Tread Water"
6. Jedi Mind Tricks - "Army of the Pharoahs"
7. Public Enemy - "She Watch Channel Zero"

Wow, that was way tougher than I thought. I'm subject to changing my mind so in a couple of weeks this may vary. Google any of the above artists and check out these tracks, they are quality. Anybody else who wants to make a top 7 list, post a link to it in the comments section of this blog entry.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Meeting With Asian Delegates + Music Across Borders

I recently attended a couple of meeting between myself and Sean from SPM and two delegates from the Asian music industry, Nori Tsuzuki from Japan and Jake Lee from Korea. The meeting was made possible by Music BC so thanks to them for the opportunity.

The first meeting was with Jake Lee and I was extremely nervous. This guy operates two record labels in Korea and is also responsible for putting foreign music in television commercials. Me and Sean sat down with him and I noticed right away that he was a really easy-going guy, very nice. Mind you, I tend to have favorable opinions of all Koreans anyways. Nonetheless, the meeting was very productive and he gave some excellent advice on breaking into the Korean music industry. I hope to place my music in TV commercials, dramas and film in Korea as this is an excellent way for an outsider to be introduced to the Korean peoeple.

The second meeting with Nori was equally nerve-wracking for me as his company, Kyodo, is responsible for booking acts such as Madonna and Christina Aguillera in Japan. Me and Sean offered an artist booking exchange between acts on the SPM roster and some up-and-coming Japanese acts but Nori was concerned with the monetary cost of bringing Japanese acts over as they have no funding programs such as FACTOR in Japan. There is, however, a possiblity of me going over to Japan in the future and in fact I am planning on it next year. Once I have built my name up in Japan and developed a strong following there, I am sure myself and Nori can work together.

The next day there was a seminar given by both these men as well as Mr. Ding Jiabao from the Xinhui Record & Labels Group in Shanghai China. All three presentations were very informative and I especially enjoyed Jake Lee's as he added a good dose of humor as well as practical advice. I look forward to forging relationships with all three of these men in the near future.

This year it's Canada for me and next year, Asia. I am already planning my marketing campaign for both regions and am expecting to develop a large number of fans. Count on it. More updates coming soon...

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

XYL and SPM Music

For the past few months, I've been working with SPM Music to organize and promote my monthly hip hop event, 'Wordz From Tha Underground'. Now, I am taking a more serious role in the company and have joined SPM as Artist Development and Booking Agent. We are offering our services to artists and have a package that will raise their market value and secure them tour dates in Canada.

This new role I've assumed is a big step in the development of my career as Sean McKay, the owner of SPM, has been doing this for a while and has an excellent infrastructure in place. He has a vast network and knows how to approach venues and the media so I am learning all about it. I am also doing lots of independant study on the music business, reading everything I can get my hands on. Through this new role, I will learn a hell of a lot about music marketing and will be able to apply it to myself when I release the forthcoming 'Make Way' EP.


Right now we're working with a band called Schulz, an industrial metal band featuring the former guitarist of KMFDM. They've already made a good impact and toured Canada once so our job is to raise brand awareness, generate more radio play and basically earn them more fans as well as getting another tour booked.

The XYL 'Make Way' EP is coming sometime in the next couple of months, and there are too many things going on with XYL to mention in this blog entry so stay tuned for more info soon.

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace

Wordz From Tha Underground a huge success!!!

The second edition of 'Wordz From Tha Underground' was amazing and represents my greatest show, both as a performer and a promoter, thus far in these early stages of my career. Above you can see me and my DJ, Tre Funk, performing to the almost sold-out Media Club and a very hype crowd they were!

Around 150 people showed up to support the local hip hop scene and all the acts killed it. Incredible performances from SVS Dance, DJ Mint, Keep 6 and Erthtonez. As far as my set goes, I feel it was my strongest showing yet and crowd response was unbelievable so thanks to all my supporters who came out, you definitely made your voices heard and inspired my performance!




I've hired a Japanese representative to help me in Japan and there's a number of things I'm working on in Asia and Canada. Also, the new EP, 'Make Way', will drop around the end of April. Stay tuned for all the details. Peace!

XYL Official Website
XYL Myspace